Curlews

Today's Guardian Country Diary  is about birds that nest on moorland in Weardale, and the ways in which they defend their fledglings. 

Of these, my favourite has to be the curlew. In spring it has that spine-tingling mating call delivered in a long glide across the heather but now, when there are fledglings about, its alarm call is sometimes almost like the yelping of a small dog.

These birds circled around us, trying to lure us away from their fledglings, while we were walking part of the Weardale Way near Wolsingham.